Live - Curved Air

The legendary Curved Air recorded a string of innovative & classic albums in the 70'sto great acclaim, enjoying a global hit with Back Street Luv in 1971.
Fronted by singer Sonja Kristina and featuring the violinist Darryl Way, by 1972 the line-up began to fracture and by 1973 the band had ground to a halt. Way formed the innovative Wolf, but in 1975 the Curved Air came together once more to tour Europe. The resulting live album is perhaps one of the bands finest, documenting all of their classic material. The Esoteric Recordings reissue has been re mastered from the original master tapes and is presented with a booklet featuring a new essay and photographs. See Curved Air at the Isle Of Wight festival in June 2008.

The Band of Joy are best known as the outfit that gave Robert Plant and John Bonham their leg-up on the stairway to Zeppelin. While that unrecorded line-up relied on its live reputation to become a Midlands legend, a revised Band of Joy finally made it to the studio in the late 1970s, having re-grouped to play benefit gigs for the families of a local band involved in a fatal motorway crash.

The eponymous album which followed was reissued in the Summer of 2005 by Cherry Red (Band Of Joy - CDMRED 281) The band were Paul Lockey on vocals, Kevyn Gammond on guitar, Mike Chetwood on keyboards, John Pasternak on bass and Francesco Nizza on drums. This second album was recorded for Polydor but was never released by them. There was also the problem that Robert Plant saw the band's name as his and told the record company that they shouldn't use it. ‘24K’ eventually emerged through the independent Thunderbolt label after the group had split in 1979. Keyboard player Chetwood went on to join T’Pau and Kevyn Gammond and Robert Plant linked up again in the late 1990s in ‘fun’ band Priory of Bryon. When Robert Plant's ‘Best Of’ album ‘Sixty Six To Timbuktu’ emerged in 2003 there were two of the original Band of Joy demos on it.

Best known as vocalist for prog-rockers Renaissance. Annie Haslam came from a musical family, her father was an amateur singer and comedian and her brother Michael was a mid 60s rock'n'roller. She studied as a fashion designer at University which is where she first started to sing and then studied under opera singer Sybil Knight, before in late 1970 answering an advert in Melody Maker to become Renaissance's new vocalist.

As lead vocalist for Renaissance Annie Haslam became one of the most highly regarded vocalists. Her crystalline, five octave soprano remained the groups focal point throughout the remainder of their career. While still fronting the band she made her solo debut album Annie in Wonderland with Roy Wood producing in 1977. "Still Life” followed in 1985 followed by this self titled album released in 1985, after which she relocated to the US.

This is a hauntingly beautiful and personal collection with gorgeous musical texture and dazzling performances.

Re-mastered with new sleeve notes by Jerry Ewing. Eleven beautiful tracks including "The Angels Cry”, written by and featuring vocals by The Moody Blues Justin HaywardProduced by Larry Fast known for his work with Peter Gabriel and Bryan FerryIndependent

For
fans of bluesy, hard-charging boogie rock, the legendary band Humble Pie is an
icon. Current artists such as the Black Crowes invoke its name and that of its
leader Steve Marriott with nothing less than reverence. That Humble Pie was
co-founded by Peter Frampton, enjoying a notable renaissance of late, provides
even greater impetus for these new reissues of the bands classic albums

In
1969, Marriott, who had left Small Faces, and Frampton, formerly of the Herd,
joined with ex-Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley.
Humble Pie's first single, ‘Natural Born Woman’ (aka ‘Natural Born Boogie’) hit
the U.K. Top 10 and led to its debut album, As Safe As Yesterday Is. Humble Pie
live, however, was explosive, loud and raucous. Frampton left after the tour,
replaced by Dave "Clem" Clempson, A year later, Humble Pie disbanded.
Marriott and Shirley briefly reformed the group in the '80s but accidents and
ill health plagued Marriott and the band.

The album titleEat Itmeans "Dig
it", Each side of the original double album was different: Side 1 featuresSteve Marriott pennedrock and roll; Side 2 has classic R&B covers; Side 3
is a collection of acoustic Steve Marriott songs; finally Side 4 features
Humble Pie live in concert.

This album
showcases the dynamic diversity and talent of Steve Marriott's gritty bluesy
vocals with some funky soul mixed in throughout along with straight ahead
blistering rockers. The band is right on and they deliver an extremely
energetic powerhouse combination on this double album that overall ranks with
their best

·
For
fans of bluesy, hard-charging boogie rock, the legendary band Humble Pie is an
icon. Current artists such as the Black Crowes invoke its name and that of its
leader Steve Marriott with nothing less than reverence. That Humble Pie was
co-founded by Peter Frampton, enjoying a notable renaissance of late, provides
even greater impetus for these new reissues of the bands classic albums

·
In
1969, Marriott, who had left Small Faces, and Frampton, formerly of the Herd,
joined with ex-Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley.
Humble Pie's first single, ‘Natural Born Woman’ (aka ‘Natural Born Boogie’) hit
the U.K. Top 10 and led to its debut album, As
Safe As Yesterday Is. Humble Pie live, however, was explosive, loud and
raucous. Frampton left after the tour, replaced by Dave "Clem"
Clempson, A year later, Humble Pie disbanded. Marriott and Shirley briefly
reformed the group in the '80s but accidents and ill health plagued Marriott
and the band.

·
Twelve songs
appear here, six of them covers,Ann Peeblessong ‘I
Can't Stand the Rain’ once referred to byJohn Lennonas the perfect
single; ‘Anna (Go to
Him)’ originally written and performed byArthur Alexanderand ‘Oh
La-De-Da’ by The Staple Singers. Incidentally, the wordThunderboxis a
seventeenth century slang word for the toiletwhich gives an
example of Humble Pie's sense of humour.The cover shows
a keyhole through which a woman can be seen sitting on a toilet.

·
This reissue -
one of the first times this album has been released on CD outside of Japan - comes
with new artwork and sleeve notes by Malcolm Dome who has interviewed members
of the band to get the complete story, this along with newly re-mastered sound
makes the Humble Pie renaissance start her.

RELEASE THE NEW STUDIO ALBUM BY SQUACKETT – THE COLLABORATIVE PROJECT BY YES FOUNDER & BASS GUITARIST CHRIS SQUIRE & FORMER GENESIS GUITARIST & SOLO ARTIST STEVE HACKETT. Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the latest release on their front-line label, ESOTERIC ANTENNA, dedicated to new releases by both new acts and established artists. SQUACKETT is the hugely anticipated collaborative album project between two legends of Progressive Rock, Chris Squire and Steve Hackett.

With progressive rock (in its many forms) now seemingly more popular than ever, this collaboration from members of two of the godfathers of the genre is hugely exciting. Chris Squire has appeared on every YES album since 1969 and is widely regarded as one of the most influential bass guitarists of all time. Now an established solo artist, Steve Hackett first came to prominence as the guitarist with GENESIS. He was with the band from 1970 to 1977 and played on six studio albums and featured on three live albums before leaving to concentrate on his solo career. The two met when Chris Squire was working on a solo album and needed some guitar parts. Chris was put in touch with Steve and through these sessions the idea for SQUACKETT was born. Over four years in the making, the "Squackett” album is very much more than the sum of its parts. "It was very much about a bunch of pals swapping notes and anecdotes,” says Hackett "I think the material is simple and direct.” "It has a flavour to it that is reminiscent of a few things from different artists,” says Squire. "There is some clever Prog Rock stuff on the album, some jazzy bits, but there are parts that have vocal harmonies like Crosby, Stills and Nash” – SQUACKETT is THE major Progressive Rock release of 2012.